A woman was arrested in Iran after posting a video of herself singing without a headscarf on YouTube, despite Iran’s parliament passing a new, stricter women’s modesty law that was criticized by rights groups.
Parastoo Ahmady on Wednesday posted a 27-minute video of her concert performance, in which she sang in a sleeveless dress with her hair down, accompanied by four male musicians. In the caption, she described it as an “imaginary concert” and invited the audience to “imagine this beautiful homeland in Iran.”
The performance was filmed in a caravanserai, the name for the roadside inns built historically along the Silk Road to provide merchants and travelers with resting places as they traveled the ancient trade route from North Africa to Central Asia. Ahmady wrote that it is ‘where history and our myths intertwine’.
“I’m Parastoo, a girl who wants to sing for the people I love,” the caption read. “This is a right I could not ignore; to sing for the country I love passionately.”
Milad Panahipour, an Iranian lawyer, told The Associated Press that Ahmady was arrested on Saturday over the crackdown. He told the newspaper he was not aware of the charges against her, the arrest agency or the location of her detention.
Iran’s judiciary confirmed that a case has been opened against Ahmady’s actions, but did not specify any charges against her. The statement, issued by state news agency Mehr, also said Ahmady was released after an interview with authorities.
“The Mazandaran Police Information Center announced that Ms. Parastoo Ahmadi attended a briefing session after posting a video deemed contrary to cultural norms and values,” the agency said. “She has been asked to appear before the judicial authorities.”
Hegaw Organization for Human Rights, a Norway-based organization, said it had received a report that two of the men who performed with her – musicians Sohail Faghih-Nassiri and Ehsan Beyraghdar – had also been arrested.
Iran’s hijab laws have been tightened
The harsh regimes that have ruled since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution have passed laws requiring women to be veiled in the presence of men, although women have resisted these rules both at home and abroad.
The conflict over the issue sparked international outrage again in 2022 when a young woman named Mahsa Amini was arrested outside the metro station in Tehran for allegedly failing to wear a hijab. The 22-year-old was dead just three days later.
The Iranian government denied wrongdoing in the case and claimed that Amini died of pre-existing medical conditions. However, human rights groups have questioned that, and a United Nations fact-finding mission claimed she was killed “as a result of ill-treatment” by Iranian authorities.
Her death sparked outrage across Iran and drew large numbers of women to protest despite the authorities’ violent crackdown.
Authorities who enforce modesty laws, often called the morality police, have eased public confrontations with women over the wearing of headscarves since the election of President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier this year. Pezeshkian campaigned as a reformer opposed to this kind of moral policing.
But enforcement has not stopped completely, according to locals, who say police are now tasked with issuing warnings rather than taking immediate action. So-called ‘anti-exposure clinics’ have also been established, where women are encouraged to follow hijab laws through ‘therapy’.
Despite Pezeshkian’s reformist approach, Iran’s parliament pushed through even stricter laws regarding women’s veils earlier this year.
The Hijab and Chastity Law was originally proposed by former President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in May, and was eventually passed in September, Human Rights Watch said. Enforcement of the law will take effect for a three-year trial period, which the rights group says will dramatically increase penalties for women who do not comply with the law.
This new law extends enforcement to online spaces, increases fines for violations depending on frequency, imposes a travel ban on violators and includes long prison sentences as punishment, Human Rights Watch reported. Fines alone could be damaging to many Iranians as the country’s economy struggles under the weight of years of sanctions and regional conflict.
Experts at the UN Human Rights Council on Friday called for the law to be repealed, describing it as a “comprehensive system of gender-based persecution.”
Pezeshkian himself criticized the law earlier this month for being difficult to enforce, both in a statement on X and in an interview on state television.
“We must not do anything that disrupts the unity and solidarity of society,” Pezeshkian said. “We need to have a dialogue and discussions on this issue.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
